


The Noon Train to Summerville

by wizrdinthemachine (ravenflower)



Category: LazyTown
Genre: F/M, Gen, Minor Character Death, Nonbinary Character, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), Other, Trans Character, Trans Female Character, Trans Male Character, and death is a huge theme early on, be careful, it will all become clear which is which, oh btw there are hospital scenes in this fic, things that aren't what they seem, this gets really weird so buckle in
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-08
Updated: 2018-06-05
Packaged: 2018-12-25 04:00:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12027672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ravenflower/pseuds/wizrdinthemachine
Summary: Stephanie ponders existence itself after waking up from a coma.





	1. All Aboard

**Author's Note:**

> so, while i'm writing this thing, i just wanna establish some things:  
> 1\. tags will be updated as the fic goes on, but i will also add warnings, if applicable, to a note in the beginning of each chapter. this chapter, for example, features a great deal of medical stuff, and also might trigger people who have issues with dissociation and derealizing. be safe.  
> 2\. yes, like the tags say, i headcanon some characters as trans. i am transmasculine myself. i understand that people might not think the same way as i do, and that is alright. the headcanons do not play a major part in the story itself but will be mentioned throughout. i do not want long rants on how i'm corrupting the youth via writing stories about trans and non-straight characters.
> 
> alright, and now i'm gonna come down off my soapbox. buckle in.
> 
> update: tfw when you don't update for a year. okay, so, i've been intensely busy with school, and now that it's summer again, i'm looking back over what i've got written. there might be some changes, because i'm in the process of editing. still, i hope for shorter pauses, but i can't guarantee them.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steph feels a little under the weather on New Year's Eve.

 

The sun is near gone, casting the last warm, dying rays over the mountains and shining on the warped, cheerfully colored little houses and out into the wide fields, painting the grass a yellowish shade and heating the oncoming night. The town, empty and still, like a stage with no actors, falls into a hush.   

The sun sinks at last.   
 

A loud, screeching boom, like the whine of a flare, harshly interrupts the silence. The sky, dark a moment before, explodes with strokes of color. The children cheer, and Milford, obviously very pleased with the result, clicks the lighter off and announces, "And now, Stephanie, I do believe it is your turn to set the next firework!" Stephanie sluggishly skips up to the scorched patch in the grass, where the next little rocket stands, and her uncle, guiding her hands, shows her how to turn the lighter on.  

 

She stoops to the ground and, cautiously, lights the wire, burning herself lightly in the process but too excited to care much. 

 

Everyone draws back hastily, and there is another screech as the rocket launches.  

 

The group cranes its head back and watches as the rocket soared upwards. The rocket ascends to a point where no one could see it.   

 

The silence of anticipation settles over them like snow in the very warm weather.  The muffled booms sound, and the tatters of a rainbow shine amongst the shy first stars.  

 

The group cheers again, and Sportacus, somewhat bemused by the usually tranquil townspeople's love for fire, smiles anyway, and shakes his head when Stephanie offers a turn to him.   

 

Stingy says, "Well, if Sportacus doesn't want a turn, then the next turn is obviously  _mine_!"  

 

Trixie snorts. "Nuh-uh, Stingy, I wanna do it next."  

 

Pixel plays music on his wrist computer, plugs a pair of headphones in somehow, and attempts to ignore them.  

 

Robbie, sitting on the ground between Sportacus and Ziggy, who is too transfixed to argue for his turn and likely too young to play with fire anyway, rolls their eyes at the argument and looks at Sportacus, who stands up from his squat and strides over to the bickering pair.   

 

"Now, kids, everyone gets a turn!"  

 

Stingy wrinkles his nose. "Yes, but I want my turn now."    
 

Trixie rebuts, "And why should you get yours now and not anyone else?"  

 

Stephanie slowly gets up, walks over and says, "Well, maybe you could light two fireworks at the same time?"  

 

Sportacus, Trixie, and Stingy mull this over for a minute before Sportacus replies, "I think that's a very good idea."  

 

Trixie crosses her arms. "I guess," she says. She looks at Stingy. "Well, are you gonna do it or not?"  

 

Stingy sniffs, "I  _suppose_ it's a solution," which doesn't answer the question, but he nods and continues, "Very well, but only if I get to set off one of the yellow ones. Yellow, like the vast amounts of  _gold_ I possess."  

 

Stephanie shakes her head and goes to sit back down. She sniffs, and coughs into her arm. The coughing wasn't as bad as earlier, so maybe that nasty medicine that didn't taste like cherries at all did, in fact, work.    

 

She leans back until she is lying down in the grass, the cool blades tickling her cheek. The yellow and red fireworks go off together, and her eyes slide closed.  

 

 

Everyone is screaming, and she opens her eyes and looks out the window just in time to see the locomotive hit the turn and tilt. 

   
 

She startles awake, the screech of brakes thundering in her chest. The world is dark.  

 

There are muffled, vaguely familiar voices above her, and she struggles for a moment to open her eyes.  

 

She finally manages a crack in the endless wall of black, and the ceiling is beige. Everything is blurry, and she can hardly think. 

 

She turns her head, and Beatrix and Sterling are arguing over something.  

 

Poindexter is looking at his phone and trying to convince Beatrix and Sterling of something, though their words are as fuzzy around the edges as their images,  somehow.  Sigmund is the only one looking directly at her, and he pops his lollipop out of his mouth, grins suddenly, and practically blares, "Look! Stephanie's awake! I told you guys she was just napping!"  

   
She winces a little, and suddenly everyone is looking at her. She sits up slowly, feeling a pain in her wrist, and blinks at them, and then looks around.    
 

The walls are dull, and the huge windows let in cracks of faintly orange sunlight through the plastic drapes. A TV looms in the corner, and she realizes it's a heart monitor.  Just then she feels something on her chest, like the fake arrows Beatrix liked to shoot, and she looks down and there is a needle with a tube sticking out of her wrist. She'd watched enough medical dramas with her uncle to know where she was. Her head starts hurting, and she brings a hand up to it, only to find bandages.  

 

She looks back at her friends, who stare back at her. Beatrix lunges forward and wraps her arms around her, crying, and Sterling darts out of the room. Poindexter crowds in next to Beatrix at her bedside, crawling up to sit on the edge, and rattles off questions, such as, "Do you know where you are?", "Do you remember what happened?", and she answers yes and no.  

 

"You've been asleep for a  _week_ , Steph," Poindexter says, eyes wide.   

 

"It felt like  _forever,_ " Beatrix says, as if to counter him, sniffling from the vicinity of Stephanie's shoulder. "Oh my  _God,_  we all thought you were gone."  

 

Poindexter's nose wrinkles. "Trixie, that's not a nice thing to say to someone who just came out of a coma."  

 

"Shut up, Pixel," Beatrix says in a raspy, wavering voice, "and don't get on me for swearing, either."  

 

Stephanie wraps her arm loosely around Beatrix and says, “What happened? I feel like I was hit by a truck.” 

 

 


	2. Getting Off At Summer Statiom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi there. sorry the update took so long, school was busy. not gonna lie, that's gonna be a common thing. also this chapter's gonna be a bit short.
> 
> anyway, tw for mentions of death. you'll see why here in a second.

Beatrix and Poindexter open their mouths at the same time. Sigmund, however, beats them to it and says, "My mom and dad say there was an accident, with the train."

Poindexter tilts his head, and Beatrix opens her mouth again when suddenly Sterling pokes his head in and says, "Hey, Stephanie, Mr. Bussington and Mx. Rotham are coming." His voice seems to creak.

He returns to his place at Stephanie's bedside, a little red-eyed.

 Alexander and Robert walk through the door some minutes later, Robert carrying a bouquet of flowers she recognizes as calla lilies, carnations, and daisies, all of them white.

Alexander pulls up a chair. Robert just stands, putting the flowers down on the bed stand, which, Stephanie notices for the first time, is littered with cards.

Alexander puts his elbows on the bed and says, "We're really happy you're awake. How do you feel?" His eyes are dark in the way a raccoon's are, and he smiles the smile that only shows itself when he's coming off a long night at the hospital. Stephanie wonders if he was the one who took care of her while she was out.

She looks at him and says, "I'm confused and my head hurts."

Robert snorts. "I imagine. You were out for a week."

She looks at them and says, "I've heard." She looks back as Alexander. "I also heard something about an accident?" She pauses, and then continues once more. "Where are my parents?"

Everyone looks at each other. All the other kids look down or around. Sigmund opens his mouth again, but Alexander looks at the children nervously, inhales, and says, "Hey, kids? I know Stephanie's your friend, but her and me need to talk about something between us, so we need to be alone for a bit."

Beatrix's brow furrows, and she looks as if she's about to debate that, but everyone else slinks out, Sigmund waving as he goes, and a look from Alexander gets Beatrix to leave, grumbling and making the sign for 'phone'.

Robert leans in, nose twitching a bit, and says, "Should I go, too, if it's a family matter?"

Alexander smiles again and replies, "As far as I'm concerned, me and you are a family, but you can leave if you want." 

Robert says, "I'm gonna wait outside," and gets up and leaves the room. A faint, dramatic "He  _said_ ** _go_** " is heard from the hall, as well as squeaking sneakers and protests mainly from Beatrix and Sigmund.

Stephanie listens as the hall goes silent again, and then stares at Alexander.

He attempts to smile once more before it falls. He sighs and says, "Yes, there was an accident. The train, it, um, went off the rails," he goes quiet for a second, and then continues, "Only a few people made it to the hospital, from the... wreck. Um. It was mostly kids."

Stephanie absorbs this, and then asks, very softly, "Did my parents make it?"

Alexander goes entirely silent, and, after many years pass and even Sigmund is just a stone poking out of the ground, he looks at her, and replies, "No. I'm sorry, Stephanie."

She doesn't feel sad so much as she feels a ball of ice drop roughly the size of a human head drop into her stomach. She stares into the hospital sheets. 

Alexander sighs and states, "I called Milford before I came in. He's going to come and see you. He's happy you're awake, you know." His mouth wriggles uncertainly. He continues, "A nurse is going to come look at you, before we know if you can leave."

Stephanie's brows link. "Wait, aren't you a nurse? Can't you just tell whoever that I can leave?"

"It's not that simple. I wasn't on duty when you came in, and, um, because we're related, my boss said that it wouldn't be the best idea for me to be the one treating you, because of, uh, professional boundaries," he explains.

Stephanie huffs, "Well, alright. I'll get to leave when my uncle comes and gets me, right? Because I'm better now."

Alexander looks off into a corner, then focuses and says, "Tomorrow, at the soonest."

She groans loudly.


	3. Stop 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The reader catches up on everyone else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as is with the other two chapters, death and grieving are a theme. also, children running off is mentioned.

The town children and Robert exit into the hotel lobby. Robert turns to them and says, " **Look.** When someone who works at a hospital tells you to leave a hospital room, you  _leave._ No ands, or buts, or anything. "

Trixie scowls up at them. "Again, she was asleep for a week and we all thought she would die. So, y'know, pardon us for being worried and wanting to spend time with our friend." 

Sigmund, behind everyone else, pipes up, "I just wanted to be there when she woke up." When Poindexter shoots him a look, Sigmund says, "I always knew she would. She just can't die." Poindexter shakes his head, and Sterling is conspicuously silent.

Poindexter turns to him. "Well, haven't you got anything to say? She's your friend, too." 

Sterling shrugs. Robert huffs and says, " _Regardless,_ now that she's awake, she and her family have a lot to deal with, and you kids don't need to interfere with that."

The little group is silent, and then suddenly vaguely ominous music suddenly bursts from Robert's pocket. They pull out their phone and answer, "Hey, Alex... Oh, awesome. No, no, I'm, uh, being sincere... Yeah, of course I'll come. Why wouldn't I?.. When is this?... Oh. Yeah, come pick me up. I love you, too. Bye."

Everyone looks at them, and then Sterling, for the first time in several minutes, says, "What was that about?"

Robert averts eye contact and answers, "Alex and I are going to dinner at the Swell house." 

Sterling looks them dead in the face and says, "Ask Mayor Swell if I can come."

Beatrix scoffs and says, "If he can come, you'd better ask him if I can come too." 

Poindexter raises three fingers, and Sigmund gives Robert his best puppy-dog eyes. Robert rubs the bridge of their nose. "No. None of you. This is a family affair only. You'll see her soon, anyway."

The children slump simultaneously. Robert takes a deep breath. "Look, I know how you kids feel. Believe or not, all of the grownups in this situation feel pretty much the same way, but we also understand how delicate and rough this is going to be for a lot of people, especially considering what happened to a lot of the other passengers. Lots of families are going to be going through the same thing your friend is going through. She'll need her friends later, but right now, she needs time to adjust."

Even Beatrix grudgingly nods, and the group of children suddenly finds very many interesting things on the ground to stare at. Robert glances over all of them, hunches their shoulders, and says, "I can see that I've hit you kids with enough reality for the evening, so I'm going home. I'd recommend that you all find your parents and do the same."

The children all stare blankly, and finally, Beatrix says, just loud enough to not be heard by any hospital staff, "I don't know about everyone else, but I'm here by myself."

Robert, stunned, scans the others. They all look away, except for Poindexter, who says, "I need to call my parents and tell them I need to leave, anyway." 

Robert takes a deep breath for the second time that evening. "Fine. I know kids these days have phones. You all had better tell your folks where you are."


End file.
